>> senator, we heard president obama say in an interview that if congress can't get anything done and we go over the fiscal cliff, that plan "d" essentially is to have another vote on january 4th when the new congress comes in, and that would just be a straight up or down vote on extending tax cuts for middle class families making up to $250,000 a year. do you think that's what happens? >> i'm hoping that we resolve this today to give the american people some certainty. the president doesn't seem too eager to actually get involved and find solutions to deal with the number one problem facing our country. if you do what the president just proposed and raise taxes on those folks, it helps fund the government for seven days. it doesn't deal with our fundamental spending problem in this country. bottom line is the president is the only one with a pen who can sign into law something and he ought to be very involved with making sure that he gets something that he will sign that will pass both a republican controlled house and a democrat controlled senate. >> senator, i mean there's been a l